Societies

Where do you find people, who professionally deal with breeding and growing irises? It's easy to answer that question:In iris societies all around the world!

Below you can see a short discription of some important iris societies.

Iris Group of the GdS

It wasn't possible to maintain a pure Iris Society in Germany to date. All breeders are organized in the Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde (Society of Perennialfriends).
Founded in 1950 as Deutsche Iris-Gesellschaft (German Iris Society) it was renamed into Deutsche Iris- und Liliengesellschaft (German Iris and Lily Society) in 1960. Another renaming into
Gesellschaft der Staudenfreunde in 1973 finally broadened the range of interest to a maximum.

The Iris Group (Fachgruppe Iris) organizes meetings for the breeders, provides a seed exchange and invides all intersted people to annual iris shows. Besides there is the possibility to get
contact details to national and international breeders and other societies.

With its foundation in 1920, the American Iris Society isn't only the oldest, but also the biggest of all iris societies. Several local and special groups work on the improvement and appreciation
of all iris sections. Besides the registration of new hybrids is in the hands of the AIS. Shows, competitions, a database with all registered hybrids, prizes for great irises, a bulletin and
numerous books are the reason for the major importance of the American Iris Society.

The British Iris Society, which was founded in 1922, doesn't only have a tradition that is similar to the tradition of the American Iris Society. There are also a lot of passionate members in it.

In a country with a significant gardening tradition, the BIS organizes several times a year shows and competitions about different iris topics. In addition to interesting reports about wild
irises and irises that can rarely be found in cultivation, the yearbook is offering lots of dates to give members the opportunity to have a look at gardens of other iris lovers or to participate
shows.

The Italian Iris Society was founded in1959 to take care of the 5 years before established iris garden at the Piazzare Michelangelo in Florence. Moreover it was their target to hold an
international contest for the best new iris hybrids.
Up to the present day this contest, the Concorso Internazionale dell'Iris, became one of the most important venues for breeders and iris lovers.

They award prizes, hold talks about cultivating, breeding and evaluating irises and the connection to the city of Florence, which has an iris in its crest, is also allways shown.